Phang Nga chief probation officer found murdered

NAKHON SRI THAMMARAT: The dead body of the director of the Phang Nga probation office, who was reported missing 11 days ago, was found stuffed in a plastic container dumped in a canal in the Pak Phanang district of Nakhon Sri Thammarat today (Aug 31).

Divers began searching the Bang Chak canal in the Khlong Noi district of Nakhon Sri Thammarat at about 10:30am today following the arrest of two men.

They found the container and the body of Chawee Intara after searching for about an hour, according to Nakhon Sri Thammarat police chief Maj Wanchai Ekpornpit, who led the search team. Mr Chawee, 57, senior justice official and also director of the probation office in Phang Nga, was inside a 200-litre plastic barrel half-filled with cement.

Veeradet Paedam, 23, and Sitthipong Buppakhorn, 22, were arrested in Nakhon Sri Thammarat yesterday (Aug 30) and confessed they had dumped Mr Chawee’s dead body in the Bang Chak canal, according to police.

Police handling the case said Mr Chawee had developed a Facebook relationship with a woman identified later as Natthanan Indam, 25. The woman already had a boyfriend, Adisak Thongsomja, 30.

Mr Adisak learned of their relationship and became angry. He demanded his girlfriend arrange to meet Mr Chawee at a house in the Chain Yai district of Nakhon Sri Thammarat.

When Mr Chawee arrived Adisak and four friends beat him to death. They stuffed his body in the barrel and poured cement into it. The container was taken away on a pickup truck and dumped in the canal, investigators said.

Adisak, Natthanan and the other suspects remained at large.

Mr Chawee was last seen on Aug 20 driving a Toyota Vigo double-cab pickup truck. His relatives filed a complaint with police, asking them to help find him.

The Justice Ministry sent a team from the Department of Special Investigation to assist the investigation into the Phang Nga probation chief’s disappearance.